1. AN AMERICAN JEWISH – GERMAN INFORMATION & OPINION
NEWSLETTER
dubowdigest@optonline.net
AMERICAN EDITION
November 14, 2012
Dear Friends:
What a month! Super Storm Sandy brought destruction and power interruption even
to our small shtetl in the Lower Hudson Valley. It was followed by a major coastal
storm which slowed the recovery. We needed that, as my grandmother would say,
“like a loch in Kopf”.
Though our house evaded any real harm, we were without power for five days. No
computer. Only a cell phone. I now know what being shipwrecked feels like.
The activity surrounding the election was almost as furious as the storm. Whether
you liked the outcome (I did!) or not I’m sure you’re glad it’s over and the American
political participants can get back to the usual trench warfare.
The Sandy recovery for me was marred by the news that Larry Ramer, the founder
of AJC Berlin’s Ramer Institute had passed away. A great guy! What a loss! (See
below)
As far as Germany is concerned, much is still going on regarding the economic
problems of Europe. The Germans are trying to hold the Euro zone together hoping
that Greece and a couple of other weak economic countries do not go under. So far,
so good.
So, with that introduction, let’s get on with the news…
IN THIS EDITION
LARRY RAMER: IN MEMORIAM – Jewish – German relations lose a giant.
TEACHING THE HOLOCAUST: USEFUL OR USELESS? – It depends…
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2. THE PIRATE SHIP IS SINKING – They didn’t do well on the Barbary Coast. Ditto
Germany!
THE SOCIAL DEMOCRATS & FATAH – Is it real love?
CIRCUMCISION & THE LEFT – What are they really thinking.
THE POLITICAL SCRUM BEGINS – Our election ends, theirs starts.
FAR RIGHT ATTITUDES – More troubled thinking.
AMERICAN FOREIGN POLICY – As it impacts Germany.
LARRY RAMER: IN MEMORIAM
The field of American Jewish – German relations sustained a great loss recently with
the passing of Lawrence “Larry” Ramer, the founder of AJC Berlin’s Lawrence and
Lee Ramer Institute for German-Jewish Relations. He died at his home in Los
Angeles after a long illness and was 84 years old.
AJC noted in its press release, “Larry Ramer was a visionary,” said AJC Executive
Director David Harris. “He was one of the first to understand German unification as
an opportunity for advancing global security, for transatlantic relations, and relations
with Israel. This is a great loss for AJC, for the Jewish world, and for the numerous
cultural and academic institutions which he supported with passion.”
German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said that “Ramer was a great architect
of German-American understanding and a true friend of Germany.” The German
government honored Ramer in 2000 with the Federal Cross of the Order of Merit in
recognition of his achievements in enhancing German-Jewish relations.
The AJC Berlin Ramer Institute was created in 1993 to foster German-Jewish
dialogue, support post-war democracy in the Federal Republic of Germany, advance
German-Israeli relations, and monitor anti-Semitism and extremism. When the
Institute moved to Berlin in 1998, global media covering the gala opening called
AJC’s presence in Berlin an “embassy” of the American Jewish community.
Under Ramer’s leadership, AJC Berlin has strengthened enduring partnerships with
foundations from all political parties, deepened understanding among opinion
leaders of relations with Israel, initiated programs to fight anti-Semitism, launched an
outreach to Germany’s large Turkish community, and created civic education
programs with German educators now used widely in schools in Berlin and
Brandenburg.
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3. “Larry Ramer’s faith in cooperation and partnership with Germany was a model of
reconciliation,” said Deidre Berger, director of the AJC Berlin Ramer Institute, who
worked closely with Ramer since 1999.
“He was tireless in upholding Holocaust remembrance, while reminding others to be
mindful of the need to secure democracy and promote security of the Jewish
people. He was beloved for his forthright engagement and commitment to common
transatlantic values,” Berger continued. “His presence will be deeply missed, while
we carry on the mission of the AJC Berlin Ramer Institute.”
Ramer was co-chair with Dr. Rita Suessmuth, former President of the German
Parliament, of the Ramer Institute Advisory Board, which includes notable public
leaders in Germany and the United States. During decades of involvement with
AJC, Ramer served on the organization’s Executive Committee for many years.
Ramer is survived by his wife, Lee, his children Doug, Stephanie and Susan, and
their families, and his brother Bruce Ramer, who served as AJC National President
from 1998 to 2001.
As the Founding Director of the Ramer Institute’s Berlin Office I had a great deal of
contact with Larry Ramer. He was not one to merely financially support the Institute
and leave it at that. He was intimately interested in everything we did. He visited
Berlin frequently and undertook the responsibility for meeting many of Germany’s
leaders and explaining the complexities of American Jewry to them. His contacts
were always meaningful. He advocated strong German support for Israel and for
those other matters of importance to the Jewish people.
Larry Ramer was a lovely and sweet man. We have lost a real champion. He will be
sorely missed by many people including yours truly. His Institute continues on as a
legacy to his devotion to the improvement of relationships between Germany and
the Jewish people.
TEACHING THE HOLOCAUST: USEFUL OR USELESS?
In the last edition of DuBow Digest I wrote, “…it seems to me that our focus on more
and more Holocaust education will get us nowhere. What is needed is early
education (starting with the family and kindergarten) on the positives associated with
democracy.”
In a recent Forward article Don Snyder (a very good journalist) wrote a piece noting,
“Teaching about the Holocaust has not kept the old wounds of Jew hatred from
reopening in Germany.
This is the reality that the Bundestag, Germany’s parliament, implicitly
acknowledged October 17 when it debated the state of anti-Semitism in the country
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4. following a disturbing government-commissioned report delivered to it last January.
The report, written by a commission of nine academics that reviewed data from a
large body of recent research, found that one-fifth of German citizens harbor anti-
Semitic attitudes.
Lawmakers attending the debate, including German Chancellor Angela Merkel and
Interior Minister Hans-Peter Friedrich, agreed across party lines on the need to act
on the study’s recommendations. It was a consensus that included Bundestag Vice
President Petra Pau, a member of the Left Party, which is staunchly critical of Israel.
The legislators hope to have an action plan to vote on in the coming weeks.
But one of the report’s most important recommendations may prove to be among
the most difficult to implement. The study calls for education about anti-Semitism in
Germany to be separated from the study of the Holocaust.
Deidre Berger, director of the American Jewish Committee’s office in Berlin, shares
this concern.
“There is a belief that if you teach young Germans about the Holocaust and the Nazi
period, they won’t become anti-Semitic,” Berger said. “But this is frequently not true.”
Holocaust teaching is losing its effectiveness in the fight against anti-Semitism, she
said, particularly with younger Germans several generations removed from the
event.
Ministry of the Interior figures show that most of the country’s anti-Semitic incidents
continue to come from the far right. In 2011, almost 96%, or 1,188 of the 1,229
reported cases, came from this quarter. Only 24 cases involved Muslims.
“The far right is getting stronger in Germany,” said Frank Jansen, investigative
reporter for the respected centrist newspaper Der Tagesspiegel, during an interview.
“Right-wing extremism is attractive to young men who see it as exciting in their
boring environment.” Jansen is an expert on Muslim and right-wing extremism in
Germany.
…even teachers often do not distinguish between Jews and Israelis, and may
themselves harbor prejudices, stereotypes and anti-Israel views.
Substantive opposition to Israel’s occupation of the Palestinians in the West Bank
and Gaza is common in Germany, and polls show that most Germans have negative
views of Israel. But Israel bashing has also become a favorite weapon in anti-
Semitic attacks. A 2010 report by the University of Bielefeld’s Institute for
Interdisciplinary Research on Conflict and Violence found an increase in anti-
Semitism linked specifically to Israel.”
There is more to Don Snyder’s article but I think you get the main idea. Anti-
Semitism is alive and well in Germany. The mere teaching of the Holocaust does
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5. very little if any good. The Merkel Administration recognizes it and is trying through a
governmental committee to do something about it. The feelings among many about
Israel are quite negative.
It’s probably worse in other European countries and their governments are probably
doing little or nothing about it. That does not make it any less troubling when
considering what is going on in Germany. The saving grace is that, at least they’re
doing something about it and we have to be thankful about that.
To read the entire Snyder article click here.
http://forward.com/articles/164912/teach-the-holocaust-separately-germans-told/?
utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_term=Weekly%20%2B
%20Daily&utm_campaign=Weekly_Newsletter_Friday%202012-10-26
THE PIRATE SHIP IS SINKING
In 2006, the Pirate Party, a new entity appeared on Germany’s political horizon and
in practically no time had captured the imagination of a great many people and won
seats in four state parliaments. It was made up of many young “nerd” types who
seemed earnest and dedicated.
However, when questioned as to what they stood for and what issues were of
importance to them they really didn’t have an answer especially on the most
pressing economic and international issues. (Wikipedia) “According to political
theorist Oskar Niedermayer, the party sees itself as part of an international
movement to shape with their term of "digital revolution" which is a circumscription
for the transition into information society. With their focus on freedom in the net and
their fight against government regulations of this sphere, they caught the attention
especially of the younger generation. Even if the network policy is the core identity
of the party, it is now more than just an advocacy party of "digital natives" and
characterizes itself as a social-liberal-progressive. ”
This kind of a non-party party was destined to flame out relatively quickly. People
who voted for it have become disillusioned. “Openness” and “the net” are not exactly
bread and butter issues. Der Spiegel reported a few weeks ago, “As national
elections approach next year, Germany's Pirate Party can't explain what its positions
really are. Its representatives in state parliaments prefer to focus on technical issues
and themselves, while party leaders are withdrawing from the forefront. Voters, in
the meantime, are turning away from the party.
This spring the party was polling at 13 percent. Since then, though, it seems voters
have come to recognize that the Pirate Party often offers little more than a
spectacle.
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6. More recent polls show that Germany's newest political party has fallen back nearly
to the "five-percent hurdle," the percentage of votes a party needs in order to take
seats in Germany's parliament, the Bundestag. The Pirate Party is now at risk of
failing to meet that hurdle in national elections next year.
The party hasn't managed to find a true sense of team spirit -- its leaders' varying
lifestyles and beliefs are simply too different.
This lack of content is already having an effect in the state parliaments where the
party is represented. The newcomers are gaining a reputation as a party of self-
promoters, whose members most often garner big headlines for bizarre behavior --
for example, one representative in North Rhine-Westphalia uses Twitter to describe
her one-night stands and broken condoms.
All this might seem comical. A party with no platform gains seats in four state
parliaments and a few months ago seemed to have enough votes to gain seats in
the Bundestag. However, I see a more troublesome side to all of this. If a sizeable
number of people can vote for something they have absolutely no real idea what it
is, might it not be easy for a small more well organized group with a more sinister
hidden agenda to do the same? The thought gives me chills.
In any case, the Pirate ship seems to be sinking to which I can only say “Ho Ho Ho
and a bottle of Good Riddance brand rum”.
You can read the whole story by clicking here
http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/german-voters-grow-disillusioned-with-
pirate-party-a-863234.html
THE SOCIAL DEMOCRATS & FATAH
There is no doubt that the left-leaning Social Democratic Party (SPD), one of
Germany’s two major parties, has been and is very sympathetic to the Palestinian
cause and a long time critic of Israel; especially the Netanyahu government. They
frequently make the case that they are not anti-Israel but voice their criticism in an
effort to be positive.
Recently Haaretz reported, “Germany’s Social Democratic Party shares “mutual
values” and “mutual goals” with the Palestinian Fatah movement, the party declared
last week, after a delegation of Fatah members met with party members, including
Secretary-general Andrea Nahles.
The SPD is Germany’s largest opposition party, and hopes that its candidate will
replace Chancellor Angela Merkel in elections scheduled for the end of next year.
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7. The declaration was reported Monday by the Bild newspaper, the country’s largest-
circulation daily, which put the story on its front page under the headline “Mutual
values with Israel’s enemies?” and criticized the declaration. “What was the SPD
thinking?” the story asked. “Fatah is an enemy of Israel, the faction of the PLO terror
organization that was led by Yasser Arafat.”
The Central Council of Jews in Germany also condemned the joint statement.
Council president Dieter Graumann called it “scandalous” and explained, “The SPD
is cooperating with a terror organization that calls for hatred against Jews. The party
should be ashamed of itself.”
While it is true that Fatah is not Hamas and has dealings with Israel, the U.S. and
other European countries, it is not a pariah. The more important point here is the
stance of the SPD. The current government, led by the Christian Democrat’s
Chancellor Angela Merkel is much more positive in its relations with Israel. With an
election coming up next year, should the SPD come out on top and capture the
Chancellor’s position, the relationship between Germany and Israel might become
more of a question.
CIRCUMCISION & THE LEFT
I want it to be understood that in general I have nothing against left wing parties.
Some of the Bundestag members of the SPD and the Green Party are the most
dedicated supporters of the issues dealing with Jewish interests and Israel.
However, when criticism dealing with Jewish matters appears it usually comes from
the left side of the political spectrum.
The Jewish Daily Forward reported only yesterday, “A new proposal by liberal and
left-leaning legislators in Germany would bar ritual circumcision for boys under the
age of 14.
Some 50 members of Parliament - from the Social Democratic Party, the Left Party
and the Greens - have signed on to the proposal, which they hope will preempt
another bill currently awaiting parliamentary approval. That bill, submitted last
month, would allow Jewish and Muslim parents to choose ritual circumcision for an
infant son under strict regulations, including medical training for the circumciser and
the use of anesthesia.
The new proposal would prohibit the non-medical circumcision of infants, and would
require that the procedure be carried out by a trained urologist or pediatric surgeon,
according to German news reports. The legislators reportedly insist that the child
himself should be able to decide whether or not to allow “such a serious interference
with his bodily integrity.”
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8. The current campaign against ritual circumcision in Germany, which is led by a
cadre of activists and boosted by some politicians on the left, picked up steam last
May after a Cologne District Court ruled that the circumcision of a minor was
criminal assault. The ruling came to light in the general public in June. In response,
Jewish and Muslim leaders demanded a legal response that would protect their
religious freedom.
Though the bill submitted in October introduces new restrictions on a ritual practiced
without interruption for centuries in Germany, Jewish and Muslim groups have
praised it as a way to protect their religious freedom against increasing onslaughts
by opponents of circumcision.
The new attempt by left-leaning lawmakers would undermine that security and is
expected to meet vigorous opposition in the Bundestag.
As I have said before, it is hard for me to believe that “a serious interference with his
bodily integrity” is the only motivating factor behind the support of this new bill.
Considering that Mohels have been performing circumcisions for thousands of years
and that the practice has taken place in Germany for hundreds of years, this sudden
burst of disapproval hidden behind a need to protect male children seems totally
disingenuous. Can one prove that it is based in anti-Semitism? There is no smoking
gun. However, it doesn’t take a social scientific study to see where it comes from.
The fifty signers of the proposal should look at themselves in the mirror. My guess is
that if they are honest they will see something very ugly.
THE POLITICAL SCRUM BEGINS
Now that the American election is out of the way (Germans followed it very closely)
the political pushes and pulls surrounding their own 2013 election is underway.
Briefly, in order to understand it, the election is one of parties, not so much of
individuals, though personalities certainly count. In Germany’s post war history only
once has a single party gained enough seats in the Bundestag on its own obviating
the need for a coalition with a second party to be in command.
Currently, the governing coalition is made up of a right leaning Christian Democratic
Party (CDU) and the business oriented Free Democrats (FDP). In opposition are the
Social Democrats (SPD) and the Green Party (The Greens), both more left-leaning.
At present the FDP seems very weak and so the CDU and Chancellor Merkel are in
danger of not having a “natural” partner with which to form a coalition. There is some
possibility that if the CDU comes out with the most Bundestag seats but not enough
for a coalition, they might try to pick off the Greens. It’s remote but possible.
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9. If the two big parties, the CDU and the SPD, gobble up most of the seats and have
no junior party possibility, they may have to (unhappily) join together in a “Grand
Coalition”. They have done that before and it worked out somehow. Neither party
liked it though.
The Local ran a story recently noting, “The Green Party leadership choice for the
election campaign raised talk of a possible shift towards Angela Merkel's
conservatives, prompting the Social Democrats to call for a clear statement in favour
of a coalition with them.
This is only the opening salvo in what sounds as if it will be an on-going battle
until the Sept. 2013 election. There is much more to come perhaps making our
own election seem tame. There are numerous possibilities, deals and intrigue.
Stay tuned. It’ll be fun.
In any case, to read the “thus far” story click here.
http://www.thelocal.de/politics/20121112-46117.html
FAR RIGHT ATTITUDES
An on-going problem in East Germany revolves around the extreme right wing
attitudes of the populace. DW recently wrote, “A study released by the Friedrich
Ebert Foundation says that 9 percent of Germans harbor extreme right-wing views.
The proportion of East Germans with extreme right-wing beliefs continues to rise.
The Friedrich Ebert Foundation released the findings of its study, "The Changing
Society: Right-wing Views in Germany 2012," on Monday in Berlin. Compared to the
foundations' past studies, which it has published once every two years since 2006,
the number of Germans identifying with right-wing world views has grown.
The report indicates that 9 percent of Germans have adopted extreme right-wing
beliefs, up from 8.2 percent two years ago.
While extreme right-wing beliefs in former West Germany have retreated slightly
(7.3 percent in 2010 compared to 7.6 percent in 2012), they have grown in the
former East German states. In 2010, 10.5 percent of those surveyed in former East
Germany displayed extreme right-wing beliefs, but this year, that figure rose to 15.8
percent.
This continues a trend dating back to the foundation's first study in 2006.
Findings of non-extreme views
The study showed that even among Germans not considered at the extreme end of
the right-wing spectrum, many still had right-wing tendencies. Hatred of foreigners is
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10. the most commonly held right-wing tendency among all Germans, with the study
reporting that 25.1 percent adopt this attitude in some way.
Anti-Semitism is manifest in around one out of every eleven Germans, according to
the study.
In this year's study, "secondary anti-Semitism" was analyzed for the first time in
addition to "traditional" anti-Semitism. For example, just under 32 percent of those
surveyed said they agreed with the sentence: "Jewish people use the memory of the
Holocaust to their own advantage."
Sixty percent of those questioned said they were critical of Islam.
One of the new trends highlighted by the study was that in the former East
Germany, people surveyed in the 14 to 30 age group showed a stronger preference
for a right-wing dictator, chauvinism, social Darwinism, and a softer stance toward
National Socialism (neo-Nazism) than those from the over-60 age group.
For the survey, 2,415 German citizens (with and without a migrant background),
along with 95 people with a migrant background of other nationalities, were given a
face-to-face questionnaire.
I’m not enough of a social scientist to understand the implications of the differences
between primary and secondary anti-Semitism. I do know that if a third of the
German population thinks that Jews use the memory of the Holocaust to their own
advantage, there is much work to be done in educating every-day citizens.
Having said that, if only one out of every eleven “manifest” anti-Semitism that, for
European countries, is not bad. In fact, in a 2009 report ADL noted, “The survey
found that 12% of Americans hold anti-Semitic views, a decline from 15% in 2007
and matching lowest figure ever recorded by ADL, in 1998. In its 1964-benchmark
survey 29% of Americans were categorized as having anti-Semitic views.
Considering that East Germans lived under anti-Semitic governments from 1933 to
1989 (when the Wall came down) and from 1933 to 1945 the policy of their
government was to eliminate Jews, the eleven percent figure is actually quite
amazing.
AMERICAN FOREIGN POLICY
With Pres. Obama now set for a second term the Germans are beginning to think
about American foreign policy. It is evident to them they Europe and Germany are
no longer #1 on the President’s list of important items to be taken care of. However,
the economic health of the “Old World” still has major implications for the U.S. and
so, they figure (and hope) that it won’t be too long before he might even make a visit
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11. to Germany.
Without doubt, Pres. Obama was the favored candidate of most Germans. Now that
his election is accomplished what do they hope will happen? Spiegel On-Line notes,
“So what does Obama's re-election actually mean for Germany? Will the president
set a new tone in German-American relations in the coming four years? From the
German government's perspective, the top priority -- not least because of its effects
on the global economy -- is the United States' high national deficit. Chancellor
Merkel and her strategists have expectations for Obama to finally consolidate his
country's budget. "The time of policies financed by debt has come to an end, and
the US knows this," says Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle of the Free
Democratic Party (FDP). "Obama needs to demonstrate that he can get the deficit
under control," stresses Philipp Missfelder, the foreign policy spokesperson in the
federal parliament, the Bundestag, for Merkel's Christian Democratic Union (CDU).
…Obama's re-election should make planning on one important point easier for the
NATO states, and thus for Germany: the future of NATO's engagement in the Hindu
Kush. President Obama's goal remains the withdrawal of American forces from
Afghanistan by 2014. Other nations with troops in Afghanistan, including Germany,
have oriented their plans around this goal. During the election campaign, Romney
sowed doubt about the plan for withdrawal, leaving politicians in all the NATO states
wondering what would come next.
International cooperation with Obama, though, has its own potential problem areas.
The president's focus on the Asia-Pacific region in recent years has made clear to
his European partners that the old Continent no longer ranks first in the American
president's eyes.
…any major conflict between the United States and Beijing -- which could take place
either by way of a trade dispute or a proxy within China's sphere of influence in the
Southeast Asian region -- could also threaten to have an impact on the German
economy
Meanwhile, the question of when Obama will visit Germany remains an open one.
As president, Obama has already traveled to Germany twice, but he has not yet
visited Berlin, the capital. But that could soon change -- at least if you go by hints
provided by US Ambassador to Germany Philip Murphy. "Every visit is enriching.
But Berlin is a special place and I hope that he will come here soon."
During a visit by Merkel to the US last year, Obama himself said he would love to
visit Berlin -- after his re-election. There's a hitch though. Germany is heading into a
national election next September and the campaign will kick into high gear starting
in mid-2013. Obama would have to visit before summer in order to avoid making it
look like he was giving a boost, intentional or not, to Merkel's re-election effort. That,
at least, is how the Social Democrats, who are roughly tantamount in Germany to
Obama's Democratic Party, view the matter.
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12. That doesn't leave a whole lot of time for a visit by a US president, especially since
the massive security effort that is necessary requires meticulous preparations. But
Obama knows Berlin and probably has good memories of the city. As a senator
running for president in 2008, he gave a major speech in front of Berlin's Victory
Column. Around 200,000 people came to listen to him. It was a major event -- the
kind that people remember for a long time.
Interestingly, there is nothing in the article about the Middle East. Maybe Spiegel
On-Line thinks it’s a secondary concern. With the President’s first post-election trip
being made to Asia, it’s clear that that is where the action is. When he gets back it is
the “fiscal cliff” that he has to deal with.
My guess is that somehow he’ll find time to get to Berlin, perhaps in the late spring.
A visit would be a big boost for Chancellor Merkel who will be thoroughly engaged in
her own election battle. Stay tuned!
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DuBow Digest is written and published by Eugene DuBow who can be contacted by
clicking here
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www.dubowdigest.typepad.com
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